NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Princeton University topped the list, and Columbia University came in fourth, among national universities in the newly-released Best Colleges list from U.S. News and World Report.

Columbia also had the steepest tuition on the list.

The publication this week released its national universities ranking list, for schools that offer a full range of undergraduate majors as well as master’s and Ph.D. programs. A separate list was released for liberal arts colleges.

Princeton — with a tuition of $40,170, a 7.9 percent fall 2012 acceptance rate, and a 96 percent six-year graduation rate — beat out Harvard and Yale universities to come in first on the list. Harvard and Yale occupied the second and third slots on the list, respectively.

Columbia University, with the highest tuition on the list at $49,138, came in at No. 4. The university – located in Morningside Heights — boasts a total enrollment of 23,168 and an undergraduate enrollment of 6,068.

The acceptance rate at Columbia is just 7.4 percent, and the school has a 97 percent six-year graduation rate.

Stanford University and the University of Chicago tied for the last spot in the top five on the list.

Among Tri-State Area universities farther down on the list, NYU came in at No. 32, Yeshiva University at No. 47, Fordham University, at No. 57, Rutgers-New Brunswick at No. 69, and the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken at No. 82.

U.S News updated its methodology for college rankings this year, noting that high school class rank is less important this year than in years past. The weight was also increased for graduation and retention rates.